<p>A 5.7-magnitude earthquake and several aftershocks struck beneath the Pacific off New Zealand's Kermadec Islands today, US geologists said, but no tsunami warning was issued.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The remote offshore quake hit at 05:42am local time at a depth of 32 kilometres, 65 kilometres east of Raoul Island and 926 kilometres south of Tonga, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said.<br /><br />The USGS at first measured the quake at a strong magnitude of 6.2 but later downgraded it. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center did not issue an alert for the area, part of the Pacific's "Ring of Fire", a highly active tectonic zone that frequently experiences earthquakes.<br /><br />The initial quake was followed by several aftershocks with a magnitude of more than five. The remote Kermadec Islands are New Zealand's northern-most islands, more than 1,000 kilometres from Auckland.</p>
<p>A 5.7-magnitude earthquake and several aftershocks struck beneath the Pacific off New Zealand's Kermadec Islands today, US geologists said, but no tsunami warning was issued.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The remote offshore quake hit at 05:42am local time at a depth of 32 kilometres, 65 kilometres east of Raoul Island and 926 kilometres south of Tonga, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said.<br /><br />The USGS at first measured the quake at a strong magnitude of 6.2 but later downgraded it. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center did not issue an alert for the area, part of the Pacific's "Ring of Fire", a highly active tectonic zone that frequently experiences earthquakes.<br /><br />The initial quake was followed by several aftershocks with a magnitude of more than five. The remote Kermadec Islands are New Zealand's northern-most islands, more than 1,000 kilometres from Auckland.</p>